Beyond the Other Side of the Gate
by Dylexa
Summary: Edward finds that he is stuck in the wizarding world after sacrificing himself to save his brother. Determined to find a way back home, Edward endeavors to seek out Albus Dumbledore. He discovers a few snags along the way, but with the help of Harry Potter and a few others, the adventure becomes a bit more complicated. Set after events of book seven and end of original anime.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**Vials and Precious Stones**

Speechless, he stared at what could only be an apparition standing in front of him. He tried to say something if only in order to confirm to himself if he were dreaming but all that he could manage to say was: "W-what...?!" and then, "I don't understand..." He almost blurted out, 'but you're supposed to be dead,' until he realized, as it dawned slowly, so was he. So what was happening here?

The green eyed witch who stood before him looked just as surprised as he. Unlike his gaping self, however, she smiled sweetly, the smile looking the same as he remembered it from when they were young.

"I...I'm just as confused as you," she flustered.

Severus Snape continued to gaze into Lily's soft green eyes, still at a complete loss for words. This simply did not make sense. He had long ago resigned himself to believing he would never be looking into her eyes again, never mind standing in her presence. It had been years and he had mourned over her, her loss had been so great to him and he had never quite recovered, if truth be told.

But now...was he dreaming? There had been the Whomping Willow, then Nagini, the Dark Lord's snake, who had...and then the swirling of time and thoughts mingled with–something else, voices, events spilling over his mind and vision...

"I have a feeling I know what's happened," he said suddenly.

"Why not enlighten me then?"

"...your son..." He walked over to the nearby table and noticed a few objects lying about. He then examined a vial and held it up to the light coming from a nearby lantern, then took off the stopper to sniff the liquid.

Lily was watching his face when she asked, "Well?"

He brought it over to her. Taking the vial from him as he offered it to her, she sniffed it too, and instantly understanding dawned.

Their eyes met, and they both said at the same time, "But I thought that..."

Jinx. Neither one said it aloud, but they muffled the attempt to giggle, feeling quite silly.

"I don't suppose they would have been foolish enough to leave the stone about as well," he muttered softly. And then he added thoughtfully, "I should have known better than to have believed that Albus would have actually...destroyed it. I wonder now if we should expect to see James walking through the door."

As if his words triggered this, they heard the door open, and their heads snapped in the direction of the door. Two guilty looking young adults entered the room.

"Oh...well, I guess you are awake now...we were hoping to be here before then," Hermione spoke.

Harry was staring at the woman before him, the woman whom he knew to be his mother, as they had just revived her—and of course, he had recognized her because of all those years spent staring at the pictures of her, wishing he could see her in person—, but now as she was standing here before him, he could not help but find himself staring at her the way Severus had done only moments before. He did not look as surprised as Severus had felt, but surprised all the same.

"_Mother..._" Harry said breathlessly.

Lily's eyes bore into his identical green ones. "Harry...what have you done? Your father—?"

"No, no—he can't make it—er, that is, I mean—" Harry started.

"Yes, well, apparently he is still in some other realm...it's difficult to explain," said Hermione.

"We used the elixir to revive you after we went back to the events that killed the both of you with The Time Turner."

"Ahhh, so you have been up to more than a little mischief. Philosopher's Stone and The Time Turner," Severus sneered. "Well, that should earn you some time in Azkaban."

Hermione looked fearful at that, but she quickly said, "Well, it wasn't really our doing—entirely, that is—"

Without warning, the door opened again, and the doorway was filled with the presence of a long blue robe and a white flowing beard.

"Well, I see that all the usual suspects are now present."

Another wave of shock rushed through Severus, and he eyed Albus Dumbledore warily. "Something tells me you are behind all of this."

Simultaneously, Harry and Hermione said, "No—well actually—it wasn't really—"

"I must take full responsibility here, Harry, Miss Granger, as you know this could not have been done without my assistance."

Severus and Lily both turned from the younger chorus back to Dumbledore with growing apprehension and concern.

"Somebody _please_ tell us what is going on here," said Lily.

"Well...the good news is, it's not about Voldemort," Dumbledore smiled ironically, his blue eyes twinkling from behind his half moon spectacles.

Severus cleared his throat. "Are we to assume that we now have a new nemesis?"

At that moment, a knock at the door was heard, and Harry and Hermione both jumped at the same time, exchanging worried expressions.

"Let me guess, that would be the third member of your trio?" Snape snapped sarcastically.

Harry and Hermione both looked very skittish. "Um..."

Dumbledore opened the door confidently. "Ah, yes. Right on time Ron and—_Edward_is it?"

As the two young men entered the room, everyone was aware of a distinct subtle smell of what seemed like apple pie.

"Mm...what's that smell?" Hermione asked.

"Mm, yeah, it smells like freshly baked apple pie," Harry offered.

Ron and 'Edward' looked at each other, strangely uncomfortably,

"...smell?" asked Edward slowly.

"...I don't smell anything," Ron mumbled.

"So what took you guys so long?" asked Harry.

Edward scowled. "It was _his_fault."

"Was not!" Ron exclaimed indignantly. "_I_ was willing to wait until Mum returned from Josie's, but it was _his_ idea to sample the pie!"

"How was I supposed to know that there was a spell on the apples?!" Edward returned defensively. "Maybe it's because she doesn't trust her own son. I mean, _I_ wouldn't trust you!"

"What kind of manners do they teach you in your world? Do you just go in and help yourself to your host's food?!"

"Well we're here now so, that's all that matters," Edward responded with a bitter expression.

"...what _exactly_ did happen with Mrs. Weasley's mischief keeping spell?" Hermione asked carefully.

Ron and his fellow conspirator looked at each other uncomfortably while they both absent-mindedly rubbed their own posteriors.

"We were trying to un-stick our bums from each other—"

"Heads together, heads—idiot! We were trying to put our heads together!" Edward raged while furiously turning a bright red.

"Right! Heads together, I meant to say." Now Ron's face turned as red as Edward's, and it clashed with his hair.

"Oh get on with it!" Hermione said impatiently.

"...and now we're here," Edward said by way of explanation, leaving the obvious elephant to be ignored.

"Which way did you take to get here? The Floo Network or the back of a broken broom?" Hermione waspishly inquired.

"We're not that late," Ron said, recovering. "It's not like we had The Time Turner you know. We just had a slight detour."

"Sounds like it! Or should I say, _smells_ like it? Let me guess, a spot of Mrs. Weasley's apple pie backfire on you?" but Hermione quickly moved on from there. "But more importantly—you do have it, don't you?"

Ron looked confused. "...it?"

"Yes, we have it." Edward reached into his coat pocket and pulled out something that looked like a magnifying glass.

"Now this is all very interesting, I'm sure, but you have dragged us back among the living, and we do hope for more worthwhile matters than sticky pies and teenage shenanigans," said Snape, with a condescending look.

"Let's go to my office so that we may discuss what each one of us knows," suggested Dumbledore. "Oh, and Harry, I believe we have an appointment with a memory."

At which point Snape, seeming slightly miffed and irritated, remarked, "I'm glad I've offered my participation in these plans..." But he then turned to Lily. "Although, this is a very interesting turn of events...but not exactly altogether un-welcomed."

* * *

_AN:_

_First of all, yes, I'm still working on my other stories. However, I've been working very hard over the last few months, balancing high school, social issues, family issues, and writing. I am even toying with the idea of starting an original story, too. I've been pretty busy, keeping everything in check! Keep in mind that I can't write super duper fast like I used to! (Yes, there is a time when that actually happened.)_

_I also can only take half credit for this story. My mother (you may address her as "Electra") and I are in this together. Our minds work brilliantly when together, and she is the most amazing writing partner I have ever worked with. I'm so glad to have a mom who appreciates writing just as much as I do. Go Mom! (=D_

_Also, for those of you who have not finished the last book of Harry Potter and/or have not finished the original series of Fullmetal Alchemist (if you haven't seen the FMA movie, don't worry, the events of the movie are completely ignored...and I guess, to an extent, you can call this a different version of the movie), I would not read this if you hate spoilers. There will be millions of them. Trust me. We've got thirty pages of rough drafts so far...I don't think I'm exaggerating too much here. We probably won't warn you when they come up either, since there are so many that we can't even keep track of them all anymore. =P_

_And to those I have not emailed/edited for in a while...again, I'm sorry. I'm so busy right now, it's driving me insane!_

_Well, I hope you've enjoyed! Read and review!_ _Feel free to ask questions if you're confused too! We might answer them!_

_One more thing...I know the cover we have is not the actual Philosopher's Stone, but we couldn't find a good picture of it, so we had to look for something else. Lol, we'll fix it eventually. You'll just have to ignore it for now. ^^; The picture is also not ours, and if the owner finds it and wants us to site the links of where we found it, you may let us know, owner..._

_Well, goodbye! Hope you enjoyed!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**More Questions Revealed**

"It's as though you never really left at all, Professor Dumbledore."

"Why thank you, Ms. Granger."

Through the open window, the sweet song of Fawkes could be heard as he soared to his perch. Dumbledore looked around at everyone.

"Ah, now everything is back in place." He walked to the cabinet and removed the chalice, glancing at Harry. "I'm sure you still remember what this is?" He placed the chalice on his desk, then walked over to one of the portraits and opened it like a door, removing a vial.

"I beg your pardon, everyone, but I feel as I am at the greatest disadvantage here," Lily announced.

"Oh, of course," Snape said kindly, looking in the direction of Harry, as if to say, 'will you do the honors?'

"Not to be overly forward, but I think Edward is in the best position to elaborate," Hermione spoke before Harry had the chance to. Looking at Edward, she cleared her throat pointedly. Edward was slow to understand, too busy staring at the objects on Dumbledore's desk. "Edward!"

Edward snapped out of his daze. "O-oh, right. Well, I…I wound up here somehow at the lookout tower...I must have bumped my head on something...I'm not really sure what happened, but I think I was sent here through that glass thing…"

Dumbledore nodded. "Please continue, Mr. Elric." He was under the impression that Edward was holding things back, but he wasn't sure why.

"...well, I was trying to find Albus Dumbledore because I had heard that he had been the last known alchemist to have had any experience with the Philosopher's Stone. Nicholas Flamel was not possible to find, but I was able to come across some information that lead me to Hogwarts."

"You see, Ron and I were poking around in the library one Saturday afternoon to find a remedy to give to one of Hagrid's hurt animals," Hermione interjected. "While we were there, I heard the strangest sound emanating from the restricted section and grew curious because I was afraid that something was amiss. I found _this_ on the floor." She then held up the same object that Edward had brought. It looked nearly identical to a magnifying glass, except the glass part had an array of prism patterns glowing off of it.

Dumbledore drew closer, recognizing it immediately. He then took his wand and very casually pulled out a memory from his head, and dropped it in a vial that he withdrew from inside his robes. He turned to Edward expectantly, but Hermione spoke first.

"I suppose that this must be from Amestris," she began. "I believe it is a very secret sort of invention that I only recently discovered from an inquiry I happened to make. You see, Ms. Pince was nearby, and she seemed to know all about what this was."

At this point, Dumbledore seemed very curious about this remark, and opened his mouth to speak, but seeming to think better of it, he stayed silent. He took his wand and again extracted another memory to add to the vial.

Without noticing, Hermione continued on. "She also told me that this was only known to be possible to exist in theory. And yet, what I find truly puzzling was that it was calling to me. After that, Ron and I ran straight back to Gryfindor, as I wanted to investigate it more closely…Ms. Pince was also hovering a little too intently, and I did not feel like being under her close scrutiny..."

Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak, seeming even more troubled by this remark, but again thought better of this and closed his mouth. He added this to the vial.

"Anyway, like I said, it was as if the glass seemed to be trying to communicate with me…"

Edward looked even more perplexed than he had at the start of this conversation, and hesitated, not knowing how to structure his next words, but then just said, "What do you mean only possible to exist in theory? I mean, I've never even heard of this before...what gives you the idea that it's from Amestris? And how did this Pince lady even know about Amestris?"

Dumbledore politely cleared his throat. "Ms. Granger, forgive me if I appear to be rather slow, but I would very much like to hear about what other information Ms. Pince so helpfully offered you in regards to the Transporter Communicator Glass."

"Um..." Hermione looked back at Professor Dumbledore, a bit intimidated by his direct questioning. "Well, y-you see, like I said, she...ran over to me when I had heard the noise, and...well, I saw this on the floor, and...what I mean to say is, I guess it wasn't like it was necessarily calling to me...in fact, it was really more like a magnetic drawing, as though I was being drawn to the object. Yes, in fact, until just now, I hadn't really thought of it...but it did feel as though I was being pulled somehow. And, there was something very odd about Ms. Pince, who is always really very...er..._protective_ of the library books...so, I didn't really think it odd, but..."

"Yes, Ms. Granger?" Dumbledore leaned forward, very interested.

Hermione, encouraged now by Dumbledore's rapt attention, continued. "Yes, well, it was like...she seemed...like she wanted to snatch it away from me."

Dumbledore turned to Edward. "And you have never seen this before?"

Edward shrugged. "Not until I got here. I just assumed it was something connected to this world...and I still find it weird that she knew about Amestris…"

"That is strange," Hermione agreed. "…I was thinking about that too…"

At this point, Harry decided to speak. "Professor Dumbledore...if Edward was sent through to Hogwarts via, er, that thing, it is highly possible that Edward had no knowledge of how he was sent here."

"Very good point, Harry," Dumbledore agreed.

Hermione continued. "Meanwhile, Ron and I were in the common room at Gryfindor, and I was trying to figure out what it was that the Communicator was trying to tell me-"

"And that was when this thing started buzzing like mad!" Ron interrupted enthusiastically, pulling out the Deluminator.

Dumbledore looked pleased to see the Deluminator, looking at Ron as he pulled out the shining silvery object, saying under his breath, "ahhh," as though greeting an old friend. "Glad to see you are taking good care of it, Ron," he said affectionately. "Has it been reliable for you?"

"Mad reliable, sir! In fact, while Hermione's glass thingy was buzzing like mad, this thing was playing something like a harmonica sound-"

"-so we both jumped up and found ourselves running in the direction of the Lookout Tower-"

"-it sort of reminded me of those old tales that Harry used to go on about, you know, those divining rods I think they're called, and it was pulling me along with Hermione towards what looked like a great heap on the ground...but of course, it turned out to be a much smaller heap-"

"HEY! ARE YOU TRYING TO CALL ME SMALL?!"

"No mate, I'm just trying to say that from the distance, you seemed much bigger, and you shrunk comparatively as we got closer, especially since you were all crumpled there, looking all dead and everything."

"Yes, we did think he was dead, actually," Hermione agreed with a worried expression. "Thank goodness we saw him starting to come around soon after I revived him with a spell I remembered just in time."

"Oh, that's how I came out of it..."

Glancing back at Edward, Dumbledore studied the young man more closely. "Where exactly were you right before you arrived at Hogwarts?"

"I was in Germany," said Edward.

Dumbledore suddenly seemed extremely fascinated to hear more about this. "And what were you doing in Germany?"

"Well, that's actually where I first arrived when I went through The Gate."

"Ahh, The Gate." Dumbledore extracted another memory. "You and I must have more of a discussion about this at a later time. We appear to have quite a lot to still cover at the present...so tell me, young Edward, when you arrived in Germany, what did you do there, and how long did you stay?"

"I was lucky to become the apprentice of an older couple who ran a wizard alchemist shop...if it weren't for them, I don't know what I would have done."

Dumbledore became even more curious. "And what was this couple's name?"

"Helga and Hans Zauberhaft."

"And you stayed with them for...three years did you say?"

"...something like that, yeah. I'm a bit fuzzy on keeping track of time still. I mean, going between the two worlds has sort of confused my idea of time...but, I would say it's been about three years..."

"And what have you been doing these last few years in Germany, besides keeping shop with this couple, Mr. Elric?"

Edward felt as though he was suddenly being viewed from under a very strong microscope and uncomfortably adjusted the coat around his shoulders. "Well, this and that, you know...mostly transmuting things into metals...uh...you know...making a living, because, I mean...I didn't know anybody, and they were taking me in, so...I needed to find a way to pay them back."

"Ahh...so, you mean you were making precious metals?" There was a twinkle in Dumbledore's blue eyes from behind his half-moon spectacles. "Were you also helpful to this older couple in their shop?"

Edward awkwardly cleared his throat. "Well, yeah, of course."

"What exactly did they sell at their shop?"

"Well, you know, this and that...like, uh, um...potions and stuff...and...um...sometimes folks would come in and sell them their wears in exchange for some wizard money to help them get by...and, well, you know, Mrs. Zauberhaft, she was very good at making stuff...and, around the holidays, those things came in useful."

"I should like to visit this shop sometime I'm sure." Dumbledore paced about his office with an amused look on his face. "In fact, young Edward, do tell me more about this couple who so kindly took you in. I should especially like to hear more about this Hans Zauberhaft."

Edward looked up at Dumbledore. "Oh, well, w-what do you want to know?"

"Well...anything in particular about his appearance...or say, any specific talents he had with his potions or magic skills with...hm...metals you say? Were there any stones about the shop you can recall, Mr. Elric?"

"Oh yeah! In fact, they had a lot of gems that were protected behind some very powerful spells. I was never allowed to go near them."

There was an odd glance shared mysteriously between Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape.

"Go on," Dumbledore encouraged. "So you tell me that for three years you helped around the shop, and you stayed, earning your keep with this jovial couple...let me guess, was their home directly above the shop?"

"Yeah! It was!"

Dumbledore nodded. "I see. So for three years, would you say you knew the couple rather well after that time?"

"Yeah! They sort of started to feel like...family, actually. I mean, they understood about all that I had been through, and, well...something really awful happened right before I arrived through The Gate...you see, I don't know what's happened to my brother...and, I guess you could say I went through something pretty hard at first...I don't know if I could have gotten through it without their help...you see, he might be dead...but I'm not sure..."

"I see..." Dumbledore turned now to the toys on his desk, idly selecting the moondial, spinning it thoughtfully. Glancing back at Edward, he said, "Was…would you say Mrs. Zauberhaft was a good cook?"

"Uh..." Edward drew his brows together, looking oddly up at Dumbledore, not understanding this line of questioning at all. "...yeah, I guess...I mean, I didn't go hungry, that's for sure...good pecan pies and...I especially liked her witch's stew."

While he still seemed perplexed, the change of subject was welcome. Everyone else in the room was looking strangely at Dumbledore as well. Dumbledore paced and then stepped in front of the window, mildly noticing the scene outside, and very casually, asked, "Many cook books lying about?"

Now all eyes went very wide, nearly popping out of their heads as they stared at Dumbledore. Edward also stared wide eyed directly back at the very wise but obviously eccentric elderly wizard who stared him down.

"Yes...in fact..." Edward became deeply pensive suddenly, as if this had never occurred to him to wonder over. He now, as though imitating the elder wizard, also paced back and forth, in the same path that Dumbledore had walked in, stopping directly at the opposite side of the room, his fist pressing firmly up against his forehead, as if something was suddenly troubling him. He turned to stare back again at Dumbledore, as though a light had just flickered on from behind those golden eyes. "Quite a lot of cookbooks."

"Alright, Edward...well, carry on. I would like to hear more about how you managed to get to Hogwarts from Germany, and why your journey here was so necessary."

Edward paced back towards the center of the room. Now everyone seemed to be staring at him.

"Why don't we all take a seat," Dumbledore suggested, "as it appears that we shall be here for a bit longer still, and you are all making me feel quite like a very bad host." Dumbledore walked over to his desk and sat down behind it. Everyone else followed suit into the assorted seating arrangement that was grouped around Dumbledore's desk.

"Continue, Mr. Elric," said Dumbledore kindly.

"Well...after having been in their shop for all this time and staying with them, I did speak to them about my concerns. They understood how troubled I was, and when it became obvious to Hans that we might all be in some kind of danger, he suggested I look you up."

Dumbledore looked at him in surprise. "Hans Zauberhaft you said? He suggested you find me? Does he know me?"

"Well...I would say he knows of you at least. I mean, you are a famous wizard...since I've arrived through The Gate, I know I've heard of you quite a lot...especially during the whole Voldemort scare. You were always in the news."

Dumbledore nodded, satisfied with this explanation. "Alright, so it was suggested that you come to find me? And, why is that, young Elric? What is it that you thought I would be of help for?"

"Where I come from, sir, we have a very dangerous enemy...and I'm concerned that this enemy has crossed over to this side of the gate…and, um...I don't know if I can face this enemy by myself..." Edward looked as if he were having a very difficult time admitting this. He could not look Dumbledore directly in the eye, and instead looked down at the floor. "You see, my brother—he was very good at working with me against this enemy of ours, and now that I don't have him around to help me, there isn't much of a way for me to plan a strategy for defense."

"Who is this enemy?" Dumbledore asked.

"...they're known as the Homunculi...have you ever heard of them?"

"Yes. I have."

* * *

AN:

You know, that bit with Edward freaking out over the small thing still cracks me up, and we wrote that…months ago…yes…oh boy…

Yeah. Mom and I know that we've been slow on updating. If it makes you feel any better, we're still writing. We've been writing a lot…I mean, there are 100 pages right now! And we're not even half way done! You've got quite a lot to look forward to, and the story gets very exciting quite quickly (like next chapter)!

It's just…

Okay. We have no excuse for why we didn't publish sooner. I guess maybe editing and revising, but I suppose we could have fixed that up already…then again…maybe not. We've been thinking things through a lot, and chapter two has been changed greatly. Maybe it's fate that we didn't update until now…I don't know.

The point is, it's here now.

As you've noticed, there are some things that are different from the ending of the original _Fullmetal Alchemist _anime ending. We know. It's our story, so if you don't like it, you are more than welcome to stop reading. I just want you to know that we know that we changed some things up…if you don't understand what I'm blabbering on about now, you will later. (Spoilers! =P)

And there is also probably some confusion…sorry about that. It will hopefully be cleared up within the next few chapters.

We'll try to get chapter three published very soon…let's see…it's January 28, 2013…and…hm…I suppose we could get chapter three edited and revised by…a month from today?

Yes. Let's try that.

(We're probably gonna piss some people off when we once again manage to take forever to update. XP)

Again, review. If you don't, I will send Voldemort to hunt you down and spray you with water gun water.

Edward:…you've been using this joke for a year and a half now. It died a long time ago.

Dylexa: It's not a joke, Elric. It's a real threat. Voldemort is scary! You don't know what he was like!

Edward: And you don't either!

Dylexa: DOES READING AND WATCHING MOVIES MEAN NOTHING TO YOU?!

Edward: -_-'

Dylexa:…

Edward: Just one question. Why a water gun? I mean, with Voldemort, don't you think that he could do a lot worse than hit people with water guns?

Dylexa: Water. Guns. Work.

Edward: How?!

Dylexa: *uses water gun on Edward*

Edward: ACK! THAT WATER IS COLD!

Dylexa: I TOLD YOU THEY WORK!

Hope you all enjoyed! My threat isn't real, but still!

…or is it?

;D


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